Rogue Trader's Enterprise
by JanTanner
Summary: The game between Q and Tzeentch has begun. They capricious whims now dictate the lives and fates of whoever their eyes fall upon. Lord captain Darrius doesn't care for the fickle whims of gods and powerful beings. His world shattered and his ship removed from the universe he knows he doesn't see a cruel twist of fate. Only new opportunities for profit.
1. Chapter 1

The Rogue trader's Enterprise

Prologue

Stardate: Irrelevant

Imperial Date: Unknown

A sliding automatic door, similar to the ones found on all federation starships slid open, with a hiss as a man walked into the room. He wore the red and black jumpsuit of an officer of starfleet with all the appropriate insignia of a federation admiral. His short brown hair, topping a slightly aged face with small wrinkles in the skin, and somewhat sunken eyes gave him the look of someone who had lived his life yet still had much life left in him. His poise and the way he held himself told a very different tale, one of someone who had yet to even begin living or had lived so long that the now was the only entertainment he had left. The entertainment of the now was now responsible for the large grin he wore as he sat down at the table before him.

The room he had walked into was rounded, looking like it was built into a curved structure. The windows led outwards into the murky blackness of space as small pinpricks of light glided along in the distance as whatever they were on passed through the vacuum. The walls holding the glass-like substance in place curved upwards merging with, rather than meeting, the ceiling above. Along the walls were several pitch black mirrors containing the glowing lights of buttons along its surface. The table was of a shiny dark wood along the curved edges, it's center a near perfect mirror black plastic substance. The chairs of a soft smooth grey cloth that was formed into a rigid seat that could easily swivel and rotate with ease.

Half way into the room the scenery slowly began to change.

The table warped and twisted, it's normally smooth surfaces gaining hues of purple, pink, and red. The table itself changed as well becoming less plastic and more organic. The walls following suit as they're sleek surfaces shifting into a much more open space. The glass, windows, and space beyond shifted slowly and steadily that, to an observer, meshed in a way that caused one's mind to start hurting if he looked and thought about it too much.

The landscape beyond was a twisted nightmarish place. It's hills and valleys pulsed with dark and unholy energies. The ground was a devoid of life save for small warped creatures that scuttled about. The sky was a perpetual storm of lightning and clouds all warping inwards towards a central point on the horizon where demonic energies gathered into a sickly pillar of light.

Throughout all of this there was the maelstrom of never ending combat.

Warriors clad in ancient power armor shot, stabbed, and killed others while tanks and great walkers, bristling with weapons, battled around them. At the table opposite the man a strange calm surrounded the area his opposite sat. Fights would move away, guns would jam when aiming there, and most creatures just avoided the area as some fearsome dread overtook them.

Sitting at the end of the table was one of the power armored warriors. The blue and yellow colors and single eye symbol in the center of the chest indicated a warrior of the thousand sons. The fact that he had a head and his helmet had been removed indicated something much different. To someone looking at the warrior it would seem he was normal in all regards. An unsettling feeling emanating from him to be sure but outwardly normal. Only when one looked away would they be able to see the true form of the warrior only through the edged of their vision and only when not looking directly at him. As if the true form of this creature danced in the peripheral vision mocking and taunting anyone who wished for a better look.

"Really now, my fine feathered friend is it so much to ask that we talk face to face?" The man asked.

"An amusing sentiment considering your choice of... attire." The warrior replied, "But perhaps I am feeling magnanimous this day Q."

With that the warrior's form began to shift and twist as warp energies assaulted it. Armor cracked and shattered as wings burst from his back. His neck stretched and grew in length as his face began to contort and form a beak instead of a human nose and mouth. His legs stretched and extended as the feet shifted and formed into talons much like a birds. Eventually the transformation halted and the winged bird humanoid sat back down, letting his feathered wings flap a few times before settling down behind the creature.

"See isn't that much better Tzeentch?" Q asked smiling and gesturing to the chaos God.

"Such a pity your true form is so... uninspiring." The chaos God retorted at Q's flippancy.

"Yes but the humans of my dimension wear such lovely clothes that it's easy to make due." Q said back not missing a beat, but far be it for us to spend so much time discussing fashion when there is a far more entertaining game that awaits us!"

"Indeed, I found myself intrigued by the idea presented." Tzeentch said, "Boredom has gripped me and my plots within my own universe have grown tiresome. Your challenge has piqued my interest."

"Yes but every game must have rules to follow." Q said snapping his fingers and summoning an ornate scroll of paper.

Sliding the sheet across the table, it's direction steady and almost unnatural, into the waiting claw of Tzeentch. Unfurling the scroll the elder God looked over the rules Q had put down on the paper. Then looked over them again, and the other side, just to make sure no fine print existed.

"Simplistic is it not?" He asked.

"No telling the other Gods or members of the Continuum, Once situated in either dimension the players are not to be affected by any means provided by our powers, and finally... no incursions are to be attempted." Q replied his voice taking a dangerous tone at the last statement.

The smile Tzeentch returned to Q managed to unnerve him slightly as the chaos God summoned a pen from the warp and wrote down his agreement to the rules, "Agreed." He said.

With that the room shifted as both beings of unfathomable power warped the room around them. The end result was a large empty space of nothing occupied by the two beings sitting at opposite ends of a single white line forming a circle in between the two. Each mentally summoned something to sit down in. for Tzeentch it was a large ornate throne of constantly shifting energies and materials. For Q it was a simple captain's chair held aloft by apparently nothing.

Above and below the white line in the center formed two swirling spiral galaxies. Similar in many ways but distinct in others. For one the bottom galaxy had a large red spiral along on of the distant spiral arms. The other was the differences in the distinguishable stars located along the edge of the spirals.

"Being the provider of such wonderful entertainment, I will concede the first decision to you Q." Tzeentch said awaiting his choice.

For several long moments Q studied the bottom map. His mind sifting through the multitude of places and locations offered to him within this foreign galaxy. Eventually he smiled and a single light shone brighter than the others. The light floated downwards until it connected with the center of the white circle and from it formed the shape of an older imperial battleship.

"A rogue trader... not a very inspired choice." Tzeentch said tilting his elongated neck and head to the side.

"Why waste a perfectly good diversion with the most interesting choices first? Let us enjoy this and see what happens. Besides, the name caught my eye." Q replied as the ship reformed into a ball of light and floated upwards towards the top Galaxy.

****With that the fate of both Galaxies began to change.


	2. Chapter 2

Imperial date: 7321458M41

Captains log:

The imperial navy, in all their awe inspiring glory, have graced me with the noble and holy task of transporting parts of their war machine to the front lines of one of the millions upon millions of war torn worlds in the segmentum obscurus sector of space. By parts of their war machine I mean troops. Battalions of soldiers now occupy my cargo hold taking space that I would have normally used transporting something that could fill my coffers. But where the emperor decrees I go I go with 'pride' at serving mankind.

The emperor always has a plan for these trials it seems...

* * *

Darrius Aestaban stood upon the bridge of the repurposed imperial battleship Enterprise as it glided through the darkness of space. His full black greatcoat was folded and hanging from his arm. His attire was a simple affair a simple button up shirt, somewhat lumpy indicating something underneath, and pants belied his status within the imperium. He had learned early on that he lacked the psychical stature to be imposing and commanding as his thin and lanky frame did little to impress others. So he had chosen to instead to wear clothing that furthered the perception of him turning his weakness into a strength. The only part of him that seemed in place for a Rogue trader such as himself was the many rings he wore on his fingers that he kept polished and clean with an almost religious fervor.

"Lord Captain we're exiting the solar system in another ten minutes." One of the bridge crew said over the loudspeaker built into the command center.

The need for a communication device was apparent in this bridge. A massive open space, uncommon amongst battleships imperial or independent, the most notable aspect of it was the fact that you could see a large amount of space outside from anywhere on the bridge. Windows several stories tall occupied the far wall of this large space giving anyone a clear view of the length and prow of the ship as it flew through the vacuum. Darrius was not a member of the Omnissiah and thus did not understand what the material was made of, however it had held up even in the midst of battle so he trusted that his tech priest had done well in choosing it.

A platform, rounded and forming a half circle built into the wall behind, was located in as close to the middle of the massive room that made up the bridge. Where it connected to the back wall of the ship transit tubes had been built allowing for easy arrival and escape. From where he stood, at the edge the platform, it dipped down to a level below where the first response command crew worked at their stations. From there it dropped down another level where the secondary functions were monitored, then it dropped again and again seven times total. A single large stairway lead down the center allowing for the captain to reach the bottom should the power fail. Darrius brushed aside several loose strands of his blond hair as he watched the crew go about their tasks, 'Time until solar system exit?" He asked his voice being artificially amplified despite having no communication vox around him.

"Five minutes my lord." Came the response over the loudspeaker.

With his free hand he made a broad sweeping gesture in front of him before barking out orders, "Inform all hands we are preparing for warp transit, Astopaths and Navigators ready themselves and inform our cargo of our imminent departure, darken all windows to the void." He said watching the glass substance in front of him start to change color until it was a solid black.

"I still do not understand why we had to wait until we left the system lord captain." A man said behind him.

He was taller and far better built than Darrius allowing for a much more imposing presence then the lord captain himself. It was furthered by a lost eye replaced with a robotic implant that glared at whoever he looked at with a glowing red intensity. He wore combat fatigues underneath a gold plated chestplate and gauntlets. The ornate armor was more for display than practical combat applications. His attire was finished with a sword hanging from his hip in it's sheath, closer inspection revealed a light blue aura glowing from the blade where it was sheathed.

"Lord Commander the imperial fleet might be perfectly fine with operating their warp drives within the solar system since they have a far higher purpose than one such as I. However I am not part of the imperial fleet and must constantly be cultivating good relations with the planets within the system. It does me no good to rip open the fabric of reality within spitting distance of any planet much less the solar system." Darrius said in a placating voice.

"While you may be OK with cultivating relationships with backwater worlds but while you're playing nice imperial troops are dying by the millions!" The commander retorted.

Darrius sighed at the commanders response, "Imperial troops are always dying by the millions Lionus. You know this... I know this... the whole of the imperial universe knows this. The system where we are heading to has clearly been won by now otherwise you'd never outsourced such a task to one like I." Darrius replied.

"You forget your etiquette Lord Captain Darrius." The commander said, "Even if your heritage is of the noble blood of the admirals of the Aestaban line."

"I give you all the politeness that is due." Darrius said, "You know my opinion on helping the Imperial fleet. Do not forget that I am here to assist the Imperium because of my family name, not because I want to be another cog in the great warmachine."

"Your words could be described as treasonous Darrius, do not forget that your uncouth words may be ignored by me but would be harder pressed to go unnoticed by other admirals." Lionus said fixing both his real and robotic eye on the captain.

"Sir we are ready to engage the warp engine. Warp bubble is fully formed, the Geller field is holding at one hundred percent, and the navigators are ready to transit." A voice over the intercom said.

"Time we rolled the dice with the warp again..." Darrius said in a low whisper, "Engage!"

* * *

Captains Log USS Farragut:

Our patrol of the nearby neutral zone has been put on hold upon receiving a request from a nearby research station monitoring anomalies. Their sensors picked up a massive surge of some unidentifiable surge is of an unknown energy and source which the research station found quite unusual. Upon approval of Starfleet we headed out to this anomaly unsure of what or who we might meet.

* * *

The Ambassador class ship moved through the stars silently. It's various lights and glowing nacelles distinguishing it from the stars it passed by. As quiet and silent as the ship and the space it glided through was the bridge was a practically buzzing with activity.

The room was circular, several meters in length, and two layers high. The second layer stood only a few feet higher than the rest of the room, sloping gently downwards to merge the walkways with the rest of the bridge. The second layer had several wall mounted computer stations where several members of the crew worked diligently. The center was dominated by three chairs of the command officers. In front of the command chairs were the helmsman station where two crew members awaited their arrival at the radiation burst.

Inside the circular room people moved about with various reports and data pads. The command crew operated with calm efficiency as the various reports were being bought and reviewed by the captain and first officer before they reached their destination. The lights flashed yellow at several points amongst the bridge. As they warped towards their destination the captain shooed away the science personnel and looked towards his command crew.

"So, what are your thoughts going in?" The captain asked.

He was an aged man, one who had seen many years of space and exploration. His normally brown hair was slowly receding and turning grey. He wore his captain's uniform well even if he had complaints about how snug it was getting around his waistline.

His first officer responded curtly and promptly. His dark skin and ridged forehead indicating to anyone of his Klingon ancestry. His pitch black hair was formed into a braid behind him that trailed down to the small of his back. The starfleet uniform he wore with pride having fought persecution and resentment to achieve his position. The pride came from never doubting his actions in leaving the Klingon empire behind him to join starfleet.

"It is an unknown situation that we seem to be rushing headlong into. I for one dislike such hasty actions but I can see the benefit of getting there and analyzing the anomaly before anyone else. My family's bloodline prefers battles and war to science and study but I know the value of both. On the bright side perhaps now I'll have a story of some strange happening to tell my friend Worf." He said adjusting his seat and watching the stars move past them on the viewscreen.

"Curious... then apprehensive." The female next to the captain said softly, "This radiation is unlike anything starfleet has encountered. Its not an uncommon occurrence but the way the station described it... their reports almost made it sound like it was alive."

She was human in appearance and could easily pass for one. However by now everyone on the ship knew she was a Betazoid. The only distinguishing Feature was that of her eyes, Pure black irises told those who knew alien anatomy who she was. She wore a Betazoid uniform, skin tight dark purple body suit, with a short dark blue cloak that went down to her elbows over the bodysuit.

"Sir we're approaching the anomaly." The helmsman said.

"All stations this is the captain Hal speaking." He said opening a channel to the rest of the ship, "We're approaching the anomaly, we will maintain yellow alert, everyone on standby."

The next few seconds ticked by while the crew readied themselves for what they might find. As the ship dropped out of warp they finally got their first view. Hal's eyes widened as he saw what was causing the anomaly.

The viewscreen showed what looked like a massive tear in space. Energy tendrils arced out of the rift and the tear spewed bursts of cloudy radiation from it. Simply looking at the anomaly hurt the crews eyes as it twisted and warped unnaturally against the backdrop of space.

"W- What in the name of..." The first officer said looking at the screen.

Before his question could be finished the rift surged and warped. It seemed to collapse in upon itself for a brief second before lurching and almost spewing forth a massive object into space. Once it was free of the warp rift it finally collapsed in upon itself vanishing into nothingness and leaving only rapidly fading radiation behind.

The ship was massive compared to the Farragut. A quick scan from the ships sensors revealed all the pertinent data the captain needed. A full five kilometers long it easily dwarfed the Federation vessel. It's prow formed into a massive wedge with a large ornate eagle figurehead and several large holes along it. At its rear, just before the colossal engines, formed a large tower like structure that contained hundreds of antenna and radio towers Hal recalled seeing in history books. It's engines lit up the darkness behind it like several stars, each one larger than his own ship.

A sweep of the sensors also revealed that it was loaded from tip to tail with a staggering amount of weapons. It also had enough life signs for the computer to initially regard the vessel as a city rather than some sort of space faring ship. The thing that drew the captains attention the most was the shields around it. The sensors readings could only identify it as a spatial distortion.

"It's big... helmsman open hailing frequencies, let's find out what we're dealing with." Hal said looking at the monolith of a ship.

* * *

Several minutes prior

"Massive surge of warp energy off the port bow!" Came a call from one of the many crew stations.

"Get more astropaths and navigators working in unison to get us out of here immediately! Stabilize the geller feild and have all hands prepare for possible demonic incursion."

Disaster had struck the moment the Enterprise had entered the warp. Once they were fully in and their entrance portal far behind them the geller feild was suddenly bombarded with warp energies as the immaterium tried to breach the thin shield around the ship. The Astropaths and Navigators were doing their best but the ferocity of the warp storm pushed them to the brink.

Both Darrius and Lionus flinched as they watched another one die at his station, small tendrils of lightning shooting from his eyes as the body was wracked with eldritch energies, "This is insane," The commander said as the ship let out a groan from the strain of maintaining it's hull integrity in all of this, "Emperor preserve us we'll all die in this maelstrom!"

"We won't die Lionus! Get your act together before you unnerve the rest of the crew." Darrius said calmly hanging onto the railing of the captains platform.

"Sir, The warp is stabilizing around us." One of the crewmen shouted, "It's taking hold of us."

"What, how is that possible?" Darrius asked.

"It looks like it's trying to draw us into some sort of anomaly." The crewman replied.

"Ready weapons, get those astropaths and navigators working and-" Before Darrius could finish his sentence the ship let out a groan.

A combination of bulkheads buckling and supports twisting the noise gave an unnerving voice to the chaos outside. The cause was due to the storm outside gaining intensity. Warp tendrils reached out and wrapped themselves around the ship, pulling it towards the gathering of chaotic energies.

From behind the two one of the doors opened up and a man walked through into the bridge. He carried himself with a calm demeanor despite the chaos around and outside the bridge. His long flowing robes moved with an unnatural stillness and the hood was drawn over his eyes, preventing anyone from looking at them.

"Captain, I bring word from the astropaths. Marrim is dead and the others can not hold back this maelstrom." He said calmly and slowly.

"You can't hold it back?" Lionus said in shock, "What are you doing here then, get back down there and help them!"

"My help will not change the outcome of this event." The astropath replied.

"Marrim... if our strongest is dead then we're only delaying the inevitable." Darrius said, "Unless..."

Before Darrius could finish another shift in the storm outside. From the blackened window a spot of light appeared. Red and purple in color it shot forward and collided into Darrius. The Rogue trader was launched back and slammed into the wall, the energies burning and scoring his uniform as he impacted the metal behind him.

Lionus looked at the still body of Darrius as the astropath walked over to him and kneeled by his side. Another groan sounded across the ship and the vessel lurched to the side finally giving in to the pressure of the storm outside. All Lionus could do was hold on as he felt the ship move unnaturally towards the warp anomaly.

"Emperor preserve us..." Lionus said as the ship was drawn into the deepest part of the storm.

* * *

"I repeat this is the USS Farragut, do you require assistance." The comm officer said once more.

They had been repeating the same message for almost ten minutes now shifting through various frequencies and communication means. Hal was just about to have his engineers whip up a light based method of communication when they finally triggered an action within. Several of the longer towers atop what Hal assumed was the bridge activated and sent out their subspace transmission. Seconds after the activation of the communication towers a face materialized on the viewscreen of the Farragut.

"I am Lord captain Lionus of the Imperium, and as a representative of the Imperium you will comply with the orders you are about to receive. First you will give us the Astronomican location for this Segmentum of space immediately, Secondly you will provide us with your most skilled Astropath to help expedite our mission, Finally any Techpriests you may have are now drafted to our ship to assist with repairs. Failure to comply with any of those demands will result in your immediate boarding, capture, then destruction." He said.

Hal and his bridge crew wasn't quite sure how to process the communication. Beyond the ship commander's brazen attitude many of the things they demanded he didn't even know what they were much less if they had them. Looking at his first and second officer he found them as flabbergasted as he was.

Clearing his throat he addressed Lionus, "I assume I'm speaking with the captain of the vessel?"

"I am in charge of this ship, and my patience wears thin with your delay." He snapped back.

"Well I'm sorry but I don't really understand your demands and what they consist of. I'm sure if we could just talk about this for a few minutes. My ship can assist you in whatever way possible... but I don't believe our ship has any astropaths or Techpriests as for where you are within the Alpha Quadrant within the territory of the United federation of planets." He said nodding to his communications officer to send over their location on a star map.

Lights lit up over the bridge as the computers tasked with running the massive ship began to work on processing the data they had just received. Once done lights lit up all along the framework of the windows and a massive hologram of the Milky way Galexy lit up the bridge. The image glowed a dull green and while it was displayed the entire room adopted the same coloration.

Lionus looked over at the computer's rendering of the information the ship had just received before scoffing, "If this is some sort of joke to buy time, then you have tried my patience even further. Do you truly think me a fool that you have no Techpriests, Astropaths, and that we are now located within the Segmentum Tempestus region of space? This discourse is now over."

On the bridge of the Enterprise Lions shouted out over the crew, "Ready weapons and arm all Macrocannon batteries, Charge the Titanforge Lance's, and strengthen the Void shield." Combat alarms sounded as he then turned towards the Astropath who was assisting the medical crew in getting Darrius to the sick bay, "Astropath! Find out what their captain knows."

* * *

Back on the Farragut everyone was moving once again as commands and relayed information was being shouted back and forth, "The vessel is charging it's weapons, it's turrets are drawing a bead on us! THEY'RE FIRING!" One of the crew members shouted out.

A series of flashes along the top and side of the Imperial ship lit up the darkened space around them. Red hot streaks of metal and energy flew towards the tiny ship as it's crew struggled to adapt to the sudden surge of violence directed towards them. All they managed to do was brace for impact as they shells and energy blasts exploded around them.

"Mother of latinum! I've had less impact from getting hit by an asteroid!" Hal said as the ship trembled violently from the attack, "Status!" He shouted as the vessel finally began to move to avoid the continuing energy blasts from the Imperial ship.

"Shields down twenty eight percent but holding. The drain was cause by the shells launched from the ship's broadside." One crewman replied, "The smaller lasers are doing significantly less damage but they're more accurate and preventing our shields from recharging."

"Get the ship out of the arc of those broadsides, fire phasers and torpedos and target their smaller turrets." Hal said as the Ferragut began moving in an arc over the imperial ship.

The Federation ship glided through the air despite the barrage of smaller energy blasts from the turrets. From it's saucer section beams of red hot energy shot towards the ship impacting the imperial vessels shields and ending at it's circular circumference. The Photon torpedos streaked towards the ship like bright red stars but fared no better against the massive ship's defenses. Impacting but failing to break through or even explode. The shots simply vanished like the phaser shots.

"Sir it's that spacial anomaly!" The helmsman said, "It's coming from the vessels shields."

"What do you mean?" Hal said looking at the results of their attack on the screen.

"The computer is analyzing but from what we can tell now it appears that it's warp the space around it to prevent our shots from hitting. How it's doing that we're still not sure." The helmsman replied.

Any further conversation was cut off as another round of shells and energy blasts struck the ship, "I thought I told you move us out of the line of fire!" Hal shouted once the ships shaking abated.

"We did but it's on the move now and rotating counter to us to get a firing solution on the other side. If we want to get a shot we're going to get shot ourselves." The helmsman said.

Before he could give another order Hal felt a screeching within his mind. Like ten thousand nails being drawn over a chalkboard he fell out of his command chair. He let out an anguished scream as he clutched his head and thrashed about on the floor. He had never felt a psychic attack before but he could almost sense the hands of whoever was in his mind reaching in and pulling out whatever he wanted.

"Captain!" He heard his crew call out to him and his second in command run over to him and put her hand to his forehead.

* * *

Meanwhile on the Imperial ship Lionus watched as the command crew worked with seamless efficiency, "Void shields holding steady." One of the crew members further down the command bridge.

"Status of the energy drain from their attack." Lionus said knuckles white from holding onto the guardrail around the command platform, "Rotate and get them back within our broadsides. Their ship is too fast to hit accurately so start timing the detonations to blast the area around the ship."

"Outer void shield layer was stripped when their energy beam hit. The other smaller shots hit and were dissipated without draining any shield layers." A voice from lower down of the command bridge said though one of the many loudspeakers.

Lionus held on as he felt the shift in mass as the Imperial ship engaged it's engines and rotated to bring it's macro cannons to bear against the Farragut. His hands, still gripping the railing, trembled as the ship's cannons sent vibrations throughout the entire hull. Even with multiple impact dampeners the sheer mass of the guns meant the shots could be felt throughout.

"Astropath have you found their captain!" The imperial commander demanded.

"Such impatience for one of your station." The robed figure replied sarcastically, "Yes... I have their captain in my inner eye's sight. Let us see what sort of of man he is..."

The Astropath held still an arm outstretched towards the Farragut as it flew off in the distance. The blackened windows had been undarkened to allow for a visual of the battlefield which helped him focus his mind on his target. Meanwhile the Farragut had launched a second barrage of laser blasts and torpedo strikes against the Imperial ship.

The room was lit up for several seconds as the lasers and torpedos impacted the void shields once more, "Truly we must be far from the eye if I can reach so easily into the mind of the captain..." He said with a sneer as he pushed past what little resistance the man put forth, "Yes... yes I see... Damnation!"

"You see damnation?" Lions asked with a worried tone.

"No they have their own Astropath on board she is unskilled but..." The Astropath said before going quiet then suddenly letting out another curse, "She broke my connection!"

* * *

On the Farragut Hal let out several breaths and tried to collect himself, "Easy captain, your mind came under attack, they must have a psychic on board " She said reassuring the captain.

"Shields down to forty three percent! Cracks are forming within the hull from the force of the impacts." One crewman called out.

"Thank you Javana." Hal said standing up and facing the view screen as the Imperial vessel tried to bear down on the Farragut, "We're ending this now. Move the ship to the front of theirs, that'll stop them from getting a shot off at us with those side cannons."

The helmsman nodded and the Farragut pulled to the right in a turn that the imperial ship could only dream about pulling. With a sudden surge of speed it deftly avoided nearly all the shots fired from the energy cannons while it pulled to the front of the Imperial ship. In another display of manoeuvrability it turned again and began bearing down on it's target.

"Phasers full, constant stream of fire burn though that shield." He said as the view screen was lit up with red from the energy blast.

* * *

Lionus could only stare in awe at the ability of the smaller ship to turn and avoid all their firepower. The awe turned to incredulity as he saw the ship line up at his prow directly in the firing arc of the Lance batteries. He let out a soft chuckle at the apparent stupidity of his opponent.

"I guess we'll strip the knowledge we want from their burning wreck then. Thank the emperor for his favor this day." He said

"Sir they're firing a constant stream of energy!" One of the crew members called out, "It's bypassing the shields! They aren't meant to take this sort of focused constant stream of energy. There's only two... no one layer left... THEY'VE JUST BROKEN THROUGH!"

"What, divert power to-" Lionus said before he saw the streaks of red from the Farragut's phasers burn though the void shield and begin cutting gashes along the vessel.

The phaser blasts themselves wasn't what made Lionus' heart sink in fear. The beams, powerful as they cut gashes along the hull of the imperial vessel. The sheer size difference between the two ships meant it would take hours for the Federation vessel to cut through to the inner hull of the Imperial ship. What sent shivers down his spine was when the Ferragut launched more of its crimson red torpedos.

They flew through space with unerring accuracy not simply through the hole burned into the ship's shields but arced towards the bridge he was standing on. He could only watch as the red balls of light traversed the ships hull past the point defense lasers as they tried and failed to hit such a small target. His eyes widened as he saw the inevitable impact of his impending doom.

"Emperor preserve us. Brace for impact!" He screamed as the shots made it to the bridge.

* * *

"We have them!" Hal said with exuberation watching the photon torpedoes arc past the hole in the shield and towards what they determined was the ships bridge, "Come on come on comeon comeoncomeoncomeoncomeon!"

The crew watched with baited breath as the torpedos moved past everything trying to stop them. Their hopes were dashed when the shot hit a second shield surrounding the bridge. The shots disappeared like the rest, vanished as if they never existed.

"ARE YOU JOKING!" Hal screamed as he watched the shots vanish.

"Sir large scale energy buildup within the target vessel!" One crewman who recovered faster than the others shouted, "It's coming from a set of supplementary reactors and being directed to the prow! There are energy cannons built in there!"

"What? Move the ship, get it out of the firing arc! NOW!" Hal shouted looking at the ship as six points on the front glowed with a massive amount of energy.

"Its too late!" His first officer said.

* * *

Lionus cringed in fear looking away from the transparent window to the void. He waited but failed to feel his death, the sound of an explosion, or even the sound of air being sucked into the void. Looking up he saw the Void shields reforming, the crew acting normally without a hint of fear, and even the Farragut pausing in its firing.

"What..." He mumbled wondering where the red balls of death had gone.

"Secondary Titan void shields holding steady, Primary void shields reforming. Damage cause from enemy ships attack... minimal structural damage, no primary systems affected." Lionus overheard as the crew continued to work unaffected by the sudden revelation of their rogue trader's insurance policy.

From behind him he heard a snickering from the Astropath and he felt his cheeks turn red at the embarrassment "Make them pay! MAKE THEM PAY FOR THIS INSULT!" He screamed, "FIRE THE LANCE BATTERIES, DESTROY THEM!"

"Guns charging... charged and ready to fire!" A voice over the intercom said.

"Open fi-"

"HOLD FIRE!" A voice called out over the intercom drowning all other sound within the bridge. "Lionus stand down now!" Darrius said as he stood at the entrance threshold, "What-have-you-done!"

* * *

A silence hung over the Farragut's bridge as they crew waited for the charged energy to discharge and blow them out of the stars. Hal scarcely dared breathe as he watched the glow at the front of the ship. However without warning the energy drained leaving the guns silent. Hal looked over at his helmsman awaiting an answer to this sudden shift.

"Sir the energy is draining the guns aren't firing." He said.

"I can see that... " Hal said before snapping to attention, "Helmsman move the ship out of firing arc of those guns, recharge shields, charge phasers and ready photon torpedos."

"Sir... they're hailing us?" The communications officer said with confusion.

"Main guns on the enemy vessel are powering down, they appear to be reinforcing their shields but are making no more hostile gestures towards us." The helmsman said.

Hal looked back towards his first and second officer who both looked as confused as him, "What are they... no this makes no sense as a trap. Put them on screen" He said.

The view screen came to light and instead of the man they had talked to earlier it was someone different. Not just in looks but presence as well. The first man seemed constantly on edge, as if he expected the worst and constantly planned for it. He was still within the screen but standing behind the person in front of it now. This new person was different but similar at the same time, Hal couldn't place his finger on how but let the thought go when the person spoke.

"My name is Darrius Aestaban, captain of the rogue trader vessel Enterprise. There has been a grave miscommunication and I ask humbly for your forgiveness. I hope we might resolve this situation without further bloodshed. I beg your indulgence that we might spare our ships from our wrath."

"Rogue Trader ship... Enterprise?" Hal asked somewhat flabbergasted at the sudden change in mood.

"Captain! this is a trick, some sort of ploy to get us to lower our defenses." Hal's Klingon first officer said, "We have their measure we should end this before they can harm us and others further!"

"Should we?" Hal ask trying to calm himself down from the surge of adrenaline that had been pumping through his veins just moments ago.

A robed man standing in the background walked up to Darrius and whispered a few words into his ear, the rogue trader nodded then addressed Hal once more, "If you wish to continue our feud then I shall allow my compatriot to continue in his attempts to kill you and your ship... but it has become apparent to me that we are a long way from home and I feel further violence in this matter would garner either of us nothing but misery."

Jevana put her hand on Hal's arm and looked at him letting her mind send the message she didn't want the man to overhear, "I do not know about the robed one behind this man, and the one we talked to before has obvious intentions but this... rogue trader... his motivations are complex but far from violence... at the moment." She told him though his mind.

"Darrius... was it? I want to talk but you must understand that me and my crew are feeling rather nervous right now, I would like some sort of gesture of goodwill that I am not making a mistake here." Hal said.

"Perhaps discussion in person at a place you feel comfortable with? I feel diplomacy is easier and more effective when talking face to face." Darrius said.

"You do realize the only place I would feel comfortable talking is on my own ship." He said, "To ensure we do not get fired upon again."

"Then if you will permit me a shuttle and a few personnel I would acquiesce to your request." The rogue trader said.

"Agreed, and I hope our future interactions will contain more talking and less ordinance." Hal said.

"As do I..."

Author Notes:

I suppose I should mention at least once that when it comes to the two universes I am an Imperial citizen first and a trekkie second. That's not to say I won't endeavor to keep each side well represented but if there's a bias or slant in how I perceive facts or encounters it will be because of that. That being said I believe in debates regarding fiction crossovers like this both sides have a tendency to overplay their power and underplay their weaknesses. Things like Phasers being able to disintegrate anything but failing to shoot through barrels people are hiding behind, and Space marines being able to do everything from knit to spit acid but failing to account for how much that information is propaganda.

Also a caveat, while I enjoy both works of fiction I do not claim to know nearly enough to even place in knowledge rankings for either side. If there is a continuity error or snafu that ends up getting into my story let me know so I can work to fix it or justify it. Technobabble is different beast it varies pretty widely from show to show so most of that will end up being under the purview of my own judgement.

Any who I hope you enjoy reading, the first piece has been moved and now we get to see how it affects the board.


	3. Chapter 3

Imperial Date: Doesn't matter anymore...

Star date: I have no clue how their system works...

Arrival date: Two weeks since my ship came to be here.

Two weeks... two weeks, how the time flies, since my ship and I arrived in this strange universe. I would have made far more entries than this one but it hasn't been easy to find the time while the entire ship adjusts to a mindset that is far more alien than even the space locust that is the Tyranids. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We had just finished trading blows with the ship named Farragut and had agreed to meet their captain for negotiations.

This is going to be a long entry...

Darrius looked about at the assembled people within the chamber. He had called together immediately after talking with captain Hal of the Farragut. The room was of similar make to the rest of the ship. Cold dark metal with lights built into the corners where the walls met the floor and ceiling. Occupying the center was a table made of a different substance the the floor. It's top was made of an inky black material with raised metal edges to give everyone someplace to put their hands and arms.

Lionus was among those gathered. Furious as he was at the Imperial general he knew he wouldn't tolerate being left out of the discussion. At least he wasn't likely to cause problems. His anger at his handling of the foreign ship still at the forefront of his mind. The Imperial general was a fool for combat but knew which battles should be left alone.

The Astropath was in attendance as well. Darrius didn't have time to get his name but as he was the one sent by the others he had to assume that he was competent enough to be with other command crew members. That or he was unlucky enough to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. He hoped to find out before something catastrophic happens due to putting too much pressure on him.

A door at the far end of the room opened and two more figures walked into the room. They moved with purpose and direction, sitting down at the table like they had hundreds of times before. While the room was made for dozens, Darrius couldn't remember the last time he had more than four people occupying it.

One wore a bulky red robe that covered his entire body, hood drawn over his head like the astropath but from the shadows multiple lights could be seen glowing. Upon his robe at the center of the chest was a large gear of solid metal, it's center showing half a human skull and another half of a mechanical one showing his loyalty to the Tech-priests of Mars.

The other had a robe similar in nature to the Tech-priest and Astropath but of a whiter color. Unlike the other two who wore the clothes as their primary attire, his was underneath a piece of chest armor. The armor bore the scars of many battles ranging from acid burns and deep gashes to shards too far embedded to remove and melted parts from intense heat.

"So here's where we stand..." Darrius began, "That ship out there is already pissed at us, thank you for that Lionus, and only by the grace of the Emperor were we able to re-establish communications and actually talk to them. Now we have some time to figure out our next move before going over to speak in person."

"Why not just finish the job, from what I saw of the battle and subsequent damage their ship was woefully underpowered and unlikely to pose a serious threat overall." The armored man asked, "I think it was a mistake asking to talk with them."

Darrius let out a sigh, "Cain there's more at stake then our pride at being drawn to a standstill by a vessel a tenth of our size, Thaddius would you care to explain?"

The red robed man stood up now that the attention was focused on him. His hand moved to the edge where metallic fingers accessed the command console built into the table. From the center a green glowing wireframe of the Enterprise formed above them. Across the frame it was marked with multiple red dots and lines. A noise, like someone dragging a sheet of metal across the floor, came from Thaddius's face as he cleared his throat and addressed the crew.

He sounded like someone's voice echoing through a fan into a cave. As he spoke the hologram began to rotate in front of him, "Inspect the damage of the ship and the multiple reddened sections displayed on screen. Those points mark the locations of shots fired from the opponents ship." He said pointing to a much darker and redder section along the wireframe of the ship, "Look at the long line of red. That is a burn caused by their beam weapon. That ship punched through our shields putting forth more continuous firepower than anything we know of comparable size. It stripped away our void shields with damage they were unprepared to deal with. Our shields and weapons deal in sustained barrages and precision strikes of intense power. What this ship did was a sustained precision strike. Contemplate that while I bring up the next image."

With that the Enterprise faded from view and a equally large version of the Farragut took it's place. The ship had more red lines then the Imperial warship but lacked any center points that indicated actual hits upon the vessel. The ship rotated slowly letting all the command crew get a look at it.

"You can all see the ship before us. It could barely be classified as a Destroyer, yet it's size ended up serving it well as much of our macro canon batteries could only score glancing hits due to it's small stature. Although if we had managed to hit it full on it would have succumbed to the fury of our batteries. Our forward titan forge lance's would have likely had similar success provided they hit." He said pressing another few buttons and showing a recording of the ship turning in combat, "You can see that it's maneuverability far exceeds any ship beyond Frigate... and..."

Darrius glanced at Thaddius from where he was sitting, "And...?" He prompted surprised by the tech priests hesitation.

The glowing lights from beneath the red hood looked about nervously for a few moments before the tech priest voiced his statement, "Adeptus mechanicus files and recordings show ships moving in a similar manner to this one." He said getting on with his report and pushing past his nervousness, "Focus you attention on the rear of the ship. You can see it has no engines of any sort that we can recognize yet it could be described as gliding through space. Movement like that, with no real propulsion, is extremely similar to the information we have regarding the necron xenos."

"The human we talked to didn't seem to be one of those damned machines." Lionus said.

"You now know I agree with that assessment. Parallels needed to be drawn for you to all understand the scope of their technology." Thaddius replied.

"Informative as that is there's something more pressing to have to deal with that both you and our new command Astropath... I'm sorry what was your name?" Darrius said.

"Hallen my lord Rogue Trader." The robed man said.

"Well first drop the lord and titles, I have no use for them in the company of my own crew." Darrius said.

"Well... umm... sir, we have a serious set of problems... you see, we lost our head astropath and... well... our Warp drive." The man said nervously.

"Well yes there are going to be- wait what?" Darrius said.

"Our Warp drive, it's gone. Like... poof, sir." Hallen replied.

"It's gone? How... does that mean we lost our interstellar travel capabilities?" He asked.

"Well.. yes in a way." The astropath replied.

"What do you mean, 'in a way'?" He said.

"You see, even if we had the warp drive it would be useless overall. When we engaged the ship our navigator immediately began plotting an escape route should we need to fall back... and... well he couldn't." Hallen replied.

"Just spit it out man we don't have forever." Lionus said with a hint of impatience.

"There was no beacon of the emperor to guide his warp path. The beacon was gone and every star he knew from the area was no longer there. From what he conveyed to me we truly are in a far different place than when we first merged with the warp." The Astropath replied.

"So what the ships captain said was true." Lionus said to himself.

"Yes it was true and now we're stuck here until we can find out what happened to our warp drive and figure out how to get back. So thank you Lionus for taking command of my ship and opening fire on the first vessel to cross our path." Darrius said sardonically.

"Well if thats the case then what about my men?" The commander replied, "You may have enough food and supplies to keep your own crew in line but we have all the troops we were going to transport to the front lines now."

"What 'we' are going to do is meet them in person in which you will get a chance to kiss the ground on which they walk to make up for this transgression." Darrius said, "And if your impulsive actions have ruined this first contact with them then I will personally throw you out an airlock..."

"What about the new universe we're in, and our lack of warp drive?" Hallen asked.

"Well hopefully these new people will assist us in that." Darrius said.

The Ferragut

Captain Hal paced back and forth between his two subordinates as they waited in the teleporter room. The engineer chief, first officer, and Betazoid advisor watched him pace back and forth while they waited. It had been like this for several minutes as the transporter had yet to get a lock on their leader despite him transmitting his location to them. They had chosen their standard uniforms rather than the diplomatic ones and everyone was armed as they had their own reservations about meeting these people in person.

"What's taking so long?" Hal asked looking over at the engineer.

"Sorry sir, apparently they're nervous about our teleporters." The chief replied.

"Didn't you explain to them how they work?" Hal said.

"Yes sir, but from what I gathered their teleporters work differently than ours and have a chance of... well as their captain put it 'placing you inside a bulkhead'." The chief replied.

"Scary thought, glad ours are much more reliable..." Hal said.

Any more conversation was cut short as the teleporters let out the sound of receiving matter. Hal snapped to attention as both his officers fell in behind him and straightened up as well. Three forms materialized in front of them as the federation officers finally saw them in person.

Darrius' eyes scanned the room quickly as his form materialized upon the platform below him. He let out a quiet prayer to the emperor thanking his safe arrival before stepping down and facing the captain of the Farragut. As both captains sized each other up Darrius felt the need to suppress a sigh as his mind thought to himself.

_'He's taller than me...'_

"On behalf of the United Federation of Planets I welcome you aboard my ship captain Darrius." Hal said stepping forward and holding out his hand.

Darrius, not missing a beat approached and angled his torso forwards bowing before the ship captain as he responded to his words, "I am captain Darrius Aestaban of the Rogue Trader vessel Enterprise, I apologize profusely for the actions of an associate of mine that cause damage to both our ships and hope this unfortunate circumstance does not sour future relations between us."

"I can assure you both me and my crew appreciate that cooler heads have prevailed upon your ship. While our ship does have it's own share of weapons we consider ourselves in the federation to be peaceful explorers first." Hal replied.

Gauging the response from the Federation captain Darrius smiled in return, "Sadly our way of life does not allow for optimistic and peaceful overtures towards those we meet out in the black. I am, however, always grateful to find those that respond well to the alternative to fighting. But where are my manners, let me introduce my two subordinates." He said signaling behind him as the red robed man stepped off the teleporter pad, "This is my chief techpriest Thaddius. Following him is our Astropath Hallen."

Hallen followed Thaddius' example and stepped off the teleporter standing on the opposite side of his techpriest counterpart. He wasn't sure how he managed to get caught up in all of this as he was fairly low on the totem pole as far as his fellow Astropaths were concerned. They sent him up to deliver a message as he wasn't able to help in the warp storm and somehow he ended up standing beside the captain of his ship and before the captain of one they had just finished shooting at. Needless to say he felt a bit out of his depth.

His head picked up as captain Hal began introducing his officers. A slight tickle at the back of his mind, a sign of another person trying to read his thoughts. From where Darrius stood he could see his hands and one of them gesturing for a moment to him. Even out of sorts as he was he could tell he wanted something done about it. Choosing discretion over a major display he simply let his mind's fortress open a crack to draw the other person in. Drawn in he waited until they reached his surface thoughts, committing themselves fully to trying to read him and emotions, before he once again locked down his thoughts pushing the mind out forcefully letting the backblast do most of the harm.

He watched as the female next to the captain of the Farragut winced in pain letting out a soft cry before falling to her knees, "Perhaps I am just ignorant of your customs but is reading the minds of those who come to negotiate one of them?" Darrius said as he watched the woman helped to her feet by her captain.

"How are you..." She tried to say before wincing again.

"... so powerful?" Hallen finished for her before sinking back at the sight of his own captain glaring him into silence.

"She's a betazoid she can sense surface emotions and the like, we weren't reading your mind." Hal said squaring off against Darrius while his first officer attended to her.

"No? If that was the case my Astopath would have never gotten a chance to harm her with the backlash. But let us put this little faux pas behind us, we have much to discuss and I would rather not sour this meeting with mixed cultural greetings. Perhaps if you would indulge me in a tour? Your ship is amazingly clean and well maintained and it moved through space with a grace I found envious." Darrius said, pushing forwards with his newfound position of power within the greeting.

"Yes... let's," Hal said turning towards the door to lead his guests out, "Korax, please escort Javana to the sick bay so she can recover."

"Yes sir." The Klingon said still attending to his fellow officer.

As the captain and Darrius headed out the sliding doors, followed by Thaddius, Hallen paused near the two causing them to look up at him, "You have a strong mind... but that is all it is. It is not a fortress like ours nor do you seem like one willing to make the sacrifice necessary to tap your full power." He said quietly.

Javana tried to size up the psychic, his robed body and hidden face making it impossible to read him, but without her powers she had little luck determining his motives, "What do you mean?" She asked.

With a hand he pulled back the top of his robe revealing a large bolted plate over his eyes. Across its center was an imprint of an eagle with the notable feature of having two heads pointed in opposite directions. Should could only glimpse it for a moment before he lowered it and continued walking to catch up to the others.

"Who are these people?" She whispered to Korax.

Most of the tour was of simple things showing them hydroponics, medical, and science facilities while Darrius and his crew quietly watched and listened. A question here and there confirmed that they were still listening but captain Hal could tell that his tour held no interest for them so far. Only when they reached the engineering level did Thaddius step forward and begin questioning their guides.

"This is the warp reactor?" He asked looking over to a noted engineer with a gold shirt.

"Yes sir, at its most basic it's a containment field for our matter anti-matter that powers our ship's functions as well as our engines which allow for our FTL travel." He said smiling and holding up a diagram.

The techpriest push aside the technician and stepped towards one of the panels. His glowing eyes scanned the console as it displayed information about the warp core. He ignored the protest of both the captain and the engineer behind him and his metal hands began hovering over the keyboard.

His fingers were formed of a mesh like texture. Dozens of wires comprising his hands began to spiral outwards towards the panel. The result was that the techpriest now had dozens of digits to use as the wire fingers began pressing down on the touchscreen. Slow at first they gained speed as he familiarized himself with the operating system and started to access data.

The engineer and captain watched as the screens of information flashed over Thaddius's view, "What is he doing?" Hal asked with urgency as he looked over at Darrius, "Stop him he's not authorized to access those systems.

Darrius massaged his forehead trying to fight away a growing headache, "I apologize captain, he is a techpriest, this is kind of what he does. I give you my word however that he is not doing anything untoward you, your ship, or you system. He's just... cutting out the middleman..."

"It's still not allowed, SECURITY!" Hal said watching as two redshirts walked towards him.

Before they could lay a hand on Thaddius two screeching noises could be heard. The sound of metal moving against metal filled engineering and from the back of the techpriest rose two prosthetic limbs. More like machine parts than limbs one had a piston clamp at the end while the other sparked once and lit a short bright light.

The clamp grabbed the shoulder of one of the guards while the other simply tracked the man with it's plasma torch, "Do not bother me, I will finish shortly." He said not looking at the two men.

"Is this how you conduct yourselves during diplomatic meetings?" Hal said looking over at Darrius furiously.

"Sadly it is," The rogue trader responded with a sigh, "Just let him finish, he's rather... passionate about new technology."

"No standard template designs found... how did you make this?" Thaddius said retracting his hand and looking over at the engineer.

Letting out two noticeable cough Darrius interjected 'let go of that man' in between them as he watched the Tech Priest almost slam the security officer into a wall when he turned around. The action was without malice, the techpriest simply wasn't concerned with the security officer, but it was still likely going to end with the man seriously injured if he wasn't released. Thaddius' eyes looked over at the rogue trader before releasing his mechanical grip on the red shirt and retracting his metal arms back under his robes.

"I ask again... how did you make this?" Thaddius said looking at the engineer.

"Well we built it, we've been using warp drive for years and this current engine is several generations down from the first basic design." The gold shirt replied nervously.

"Impossible." Thaddius said, "Designing your own devices is not possible and heresy as well."

"Remember Thaddius..." Darrius said interrupting, his voice carrying a dangerous tone, "We are strangers in a strange land. Let us at least TRY to be polite, we can worry about the heretical ramifications of such thought later. Understand?"

"... yes sir." The Tech Priest said bringing his arms back into his sleeves and stepping away from the computer.

"Well it appears our own diplomatic gaffes are on full display today as well." Darrius said with a sigh, "Should we continue the tour or do you suspect this will all end with us shooting each other again?"

Hal shook his head before turning to Darrius, "Believe it or not this first contact is going smoother than most if a brief bout of shooting and some diplomatic faux pas are all that has happened. At least no one has been kidnapped or assimilated." He said rolling his eyes, "Come let me show you our holodeck."

"Holodeck?" Darrius asked.

"It's a sort of simulator. It will be easier to show rather than explain." Hal said leading the way

Enterprise

Cargo Hold

Lionus strode down the many hallways of Darrius' ship. He had left the priest behind on the bridge to monitor thing while he attended to his men. The man seemed bored by the prospect not even caring to chant the litanies of focus when such idleness struck him. Lionus cared little of the peculiars of the Rogue trader's crew as he had to break this new world news to his crew.

Many men in the Imperial guard get shipped from their homeworld to fight for hopeless causes. Their enemies terrible and evil and powerful beyond measure often the only method of fighting is sheer weight of numbers. This meant that conscription or draft if you were part of the imperial army you were effectively dead. He knew the men knew this.

Lionus also knew why they fought. The very nature of the guard meant that when they went off to fight on some rock for people they didn't know they were ensuring that if anything ever came to their home and fought their people that no one knew, the Imperium would send just as much firepower and just as many men. It was an odd sort of circular logic he found.

This new universe, this new mindset, this new everything changed the dynamic. Would his men still fight with no way of going home? Would they fight if they had no way to get back home? Would they fight these federation and anyone else who might try to challenge them? These questions plagued Lionus as he walked through the halls of the ship towards the hold.

"Sir!"

Lionus was drawn out of his thoughts by the salute of a guardsman standing at the end of the hallway. He wore the armor of a Cadian regiment, it's color a slight darker hue of blue accented by it's black fatigues. He stood at attention as the lord commander approached.

"Tychus, At ease." Lions said watching the guardsman move into a more relaxed posture, "How are the men holding up?" He asked walking past him into a nearby elevator.

The guardsman hastened to join the Commander as the doors closed behind them and the lift started moving down. The sounds of metal moving against metal echoed in the small chamber as the two men hung onto the rails to support them after the initial lurch in movement. Both looked out the Glass window at the side of the elevator into an enormous room.

The cargo hold was massive by any standard the Federation used. You could actually fit one of their smaller vessels within the confines of the gigantic chamber. Down below on the floor hundreds of guardsmen milled about. Some gathered around the heat of glow lamps, while others fought each other in training or just plain brawls, and some just spent their time resting or cleaning their weapons.

"They're fine for now." Tychus said, "I'd worry more if we were Catchcans and worry less if we were Mordians but as it stands now the troops are holding their own. If you don't mind me asking m'lord, what's going on? The warpstorm hit but... well we seem to be OK we're just not moving."

"I know its not like me to keep secrets from my men... but let me worry about those issues for now." Lionus said.

"Aye sir, you've never led us astray before, you can trust us to stand by you for that." Tychus said as both men went about their inspections of the troops.

Farragut

A shot rang out in the room as a man fell backwards onto the floor. Darrius stood before him holding a smoking gun looking down at the body as it hit the ground. Several seconds of stunned silence as the federation captain and his first officer felt the ringing in their ears start to fade. Eventually the body of the man, dressing in a karate gi, faded from existence as the holodeck terminated the program.

"Oh dear, did I do that wrong?" Darrius asked looking at their shocked expressions.

The Klingon had rejoined them on their way to the holodeck. He had mentioned that their Betazoid officer was resting in the medical quarters. When he heard where the group was going to next Korax insisted that he be the one to demonstrate the functionality of the room. It was a form of prank played on dignitaries by security officers, show them how easy it is to beat the program then let them get their but handed to them by the program when they try.

A simple program, a single man with varying levels of difficulty based on the skill of it's opponent. Korax had easily triumphed over the holodeck simulation as he was about to move onto the next level of difficulty during his own training. As the program reset he had challenged the Rogue Trader, hoping to get a feel for how well these people fought and to put him in his place after what he did to Javana.

"You were supposed to beat the simulation in hand to hand combat..." Korax said disdainfully.

"Yes well, we rogue traders suffer from an overabundance of pragmatism. Not to mention I dislike physical combat on principle. If I have to fight someone in hand to hand combat at any point in my relation with them then I have done something wrong." Darrius replied.

"A-hem, perhaps we should leave such a conversation for later. Computer a table and chairs please." Hal said watching as the requested items materialized out of thin air in front of them, "If you don't mind I want to avoid any more incidents that will happen along the way and get this over with. I know I'm being rather rude in asking this and my next question but I'm not a diplomat."

Darrius took a seat across the table from the captain his followers and Jorax also sat down, "Not rude at all captain. I deal with all sorts of people and aliens and a little brevity is not uncommon." The Rogue Trader said with a smile, "But I do believe you said you had another question?"

"Yes... what do you want? I can't imagine you wanting to go on this tour just to smooth over some ruffled feathers from when we were shooting at each other. I feel like there's another reason to this visit of yours." Hal said bridging his fingers in front of his face as he stared at Darrius.

"You're right, you might have gotten a hint of what has happened to us over the course of our tour and your brief conversation with commander Lionus. Normally I would find a much more articulate way of saying this but in respect to your desire for simplicity I'll just be forthright. We have no means of traveling between systems. Our warp engines has vanished during our trip to, wherever here is. Without it our navigators are useless and even if they weren't we have no way to form a geller field around our ship. Lacking any form of warp travel means that we are limited to this system as our food supplies will not hold out. I am here to hopefully broker a deal with your organization for necessary supplies to sustain us until we sort this issue out." Darrius said.

"Wait wait wait, hold on a moment. I understood it right up until navigators. If its a warp drive you need we can provide one but I feel like your ship might be too large for it to effectively wrap within a warp bubble." Hal said.

"Warp bubble? You mean a gellor field?" Darrius replied.

"What? wait I think we're running across some terminology issues here. Frankly the fact that you speak english, even somewhat archaic, is amazing. Let's... go from the top and break down what we're talking about." Hal said.

"Yes, that seems like a good idea." Darrius replied collecting his thoughts for a moment before beginning, "Our warp drive, to the best of my knowledge is a powerful reactor tasked with creating a field around the ship, the geller field. That is charged with protecting the ship when we enter the warp, a dimension that's... well... best left as cryptic as possible, the geller field allows us safe passage of a measure within the warp. We chart our passage through the warp with the aid of both our Astopaths and Navigators who use the beacon of holy terra as... what is that old term... it's used as a sort of 'north star'. He said.

"Wait you have trans-dimensional technology?" Hal said somewhat shocked.

"Yes, it allows us to travel easily from one end of our galaxy to the other in the course of a few weeks, although such jumps carry risk with them." Darrius replied, "Also the term is 'had' we 'had' trans-dimensional technology. Arriving here has apparently caused a bit of a... quirk and the whole drive has been removed from our ship somehow."

"Can't you make another one? I'm sure we could provide the materials necessary." Hal said, "Reliable dimensional travel is an amazing discovery and could redefine the way we view the universe."

"Oh I'm sure it would." Darrius said with an evil snicker, "But sadly we are not so fortunate as that to have a standard template of a warp drive. Without it we are at a loss as to how to replace it. Which is why we are interested in your own 'warp drive'."

"Pity... our warp drive is a reactor that allows us, and I'm likely butchering the details, to create a field that affects subspace and reduces the inertia of our vessel. From there we use the subspace field to reach faster than light speeds. All of this is provided by the warp core which is a matter-antimatter power generator. Other various races use different methods to achieve the same goal but it all comes back to the subspace and inertialess field." Hal said doing his best to recall his academy engineering courses.

"Sounds like Thaddius was right, that's very near necron technology." Darrius said quietly, "Regardless it seems as though we both have things of worth between each other. This warp drive technology, our dimension crossing artifacts. I am sure, if you forgive the slight, that you are not in a position to discuss trades of such goods. I do however imagine that you would be able to ask your superiors of such things. Perhaps we should adjourn to our respective ships and allow ourselves some time to mull things over and contact those who can make such arrangements?"

"It seems like the most reasonable option." Hal said reaching out his hand in an offer to shake on the preliminary deal.

"This is most fortuitous occasion then, let us hope it leads to many more." Darrius said smiling and shaking his hand.

The three men walked back onto the teleporter, standing within the glowing white circles of the pad. Darrius gave a small bow to Hal as the Federation captain nodded in return then signaled to his officer to begin beaming. The hum of the teleporter filled the room as the three men faded away within the rain of light particles around them.

Letting out a sigh Hal sat down on the pad and placed both hands on his face, "Mother of Latinum what a day. Well I think that couldn't have gone any worse." He said to Korax though his hands.

"Indeed." The Klingon replied.

"Well no time like the present to inform Starfleet of these people... like I could even begin to describe them." Hal said standing up and heading out the door to his quarters.

"Perhaps... by lying?" Korax muttered so no one could hear him before following his captain out of the teleporter room.

Darrius, Hallen, and Thaddius rematerialized on the bridge of the enterprise. The two bridge guards leveled their guns before lowering them a second later at the sight of their captain. Darrius stepped forward to view the Federation ship through the window of the bridge. The smile he had held onto since their visit to the ship finally faded and was quickly replaced by a much more serious look.

"Thaddius did you get access to their computers?" He asked.

The Tech-priest brought his hand up to his temple, reaching into the shadows of his robe to pull out a small glowing device, "Yes, problematic in nature their ship's machine spirit is a hollow thing void of any real soul. Brute force still works, it is unlikely they noticed my incision during the blatant access of their files. Their security is to be commended for the added distraction. Within a few hours we will have a much better understanding of them." He said walking towards the bridge's elevator.

"Good, Hallen what did you get?" Darrius asked turning on the Astropath.

"Well that psychic of theirs was thankfully easily dispatched, without her around it was fairly simple to draw information from the minds of their crew. If you allow me some scribes and recorders I will endeavor to copy as much down as I can manage." He said.

"You have them, be thorough, we can't afford to miss anything that could give us an edge." Darrius said before turning back to the massive window of the bridge.

As he stared out at the Farragut and the stars beyond his mouth slowly twisted into a grin.


	4. Chapter 4

Date since arrival: Two weeks

:: Log Continuation ::

So many visitors, so many delegations, so many negotiations. Ever since our visit to the Farragut I've been constantly meeting with these 'Federation' people who seem all too eager to help me. Generosity at a price I can understand, generosity for it's own sake makes me worried. They not only offered to help us but refit my ship with their version of warp drive.

Course it's not all altruism on their part. I was forced to give their engineers near unlimited access to my engines and other technological parts of my ship. Something that has strained my relationship with the tech priests. They are overjoyed at the influx of new technology but they're still as anal as ever about who touches their things. Several incidents were narrowly averted, which is why I took it upon myself to treat this Federation like I plan to...

Enterprise, Upper command crew living quarters.

Darrius walked through the metal hallways with ease. Turning corners and taking passageways that would normally confuse someone not acquainted with the layout. Other than the bridge this was the area of his ship he knew most well. The turns and passages were like old friends to him as he traversed their ways.

He held within his hand a data pad with seemingly endless amounts of information flowing from bottom to top. As he moved his eyes constantly scanned back and forth over the pad reading and studying the information it contained. He still found himself surprised they had failed to detect his Tech Priest's tap on their systems. He and his crew had surmised that they had technology more sophisticated than what they used, and thusly were less inclined to pay attention to more primitive means of tapping and spying.

Whatever the reason he had enjoyed the wealth of information presented to him over the last few days. He had spent almost every waking hour scanning through the information, sometimes as it was directly downloaded from their computers, mentally highlighting bits and pieces of information. Anything that could help with the culture clash between the two groups he endeavored to memorize as there had already been several close calls with the Tech Priests alone.

'They were just too nice,' He thought as he approached Cain's door, 'Even if they are true to their word it's making everyone who deals with them exceptionally jumpy.'

The metal door slid open after he activated it. He was greeted to a wave of heat and scent that forced him back a few steps. It was a potent smell, not irritating or disgusting just powerful, that had hit him with a shock to his senses. Pulling out a small handkerchief he held it over his mouth and entered his crew's room.

"A bit early to be hitting the vices isn't it Cain?" He asked looking over at his subordinate.

The room was fairly lavish by imperial standards. A carpet, some soft couches, and even a bed with non synthetic fabric. All of this organized around a device in the center emanating the heat and smell.

Three feet high it's sides glowed from the energy being pumped through them which provided the heat. The top was where the smell came from as the heat would rise and combine with the substance inside to produce the smell that had filled the room. It was a fairly expensive device, one from his officer's past life.

"Hee I was brought back down from my 'communication with the emperor' during the attack." He said the phrase clearly rehearsed, "So I have to catch up now. Comeon cap, join me and spend some time relaxing."

"If we were all so lucky as you to have the free time to waste in such a manner nothing would ever get done. Not to mention you had your own work to do." Darrius said pressing the cloth closer to his face.

Even with the cloth blocking the smell it was starting to affect him. Slowing down his perception and cognitive abilities the drug calmed then affected the inhaler. It triggered natural chemicals within the body and combined with them to form euphoric reactions. The end result was a desire to just sit down and think. If you had the mental discipline to focus it could allow you to think about problems without other issues clouding your judgement. Most people just used it to make universe shattering conclusions about things they ate for lunch.

"Yeah... man it was a pain looking at all that stuff but I think I got what you needed out of it." Cain said holding up a data pad similar to Darrius', "From the looks of it there are quite a few xenos out there... but most are so close to humans that it's not likely to cause problems with anyone as long we refer to them as mutants rather than xenos."

"A lucky coincidence, I assume the brown man with the ridges I showed you when we got back is one of those aliens?" Darrius asked feeling like he could use a good sit-down.

"Klingon... heh oh the names they have." Cain said smiling at the plethora of jokes he came up with while reading about their culture, "Think of them as the cultural equivalent of our own space marines. Very honor bound and constantly seeking glory for their empire. They butted heads years ago with the Federation but that seems to have been put to rest."

"Anything else?" He asked.

"Yeah lots, there's no shortage of xenos out there. They all have their own quirks and culture, it's a trip looking through it. Vulcans seem the closest to our own version of the eldar except with a significant loss of their asshole behavior and a higher focus on logic. Then there's these guys." Cain said handing him the datapad.

Darrius took the pad and looked at the information displayed on it. A picture of an orange colored humanoid occupied the corner. Its ears were far larger than any humans, its head was hairless forming into a lumpy top skull, and its face was contorted and drawn together near the bridge of the nose. Darrius looked over the information as quickly as he could.

"Ferengi?" He asked.

"Yeah..." The priest said taking in a deep breath of the addled air around him, "They're an entire species of merchants. If you want to make headway into this universe's trade you'll need to deal with them."

"They seem more likely candidates then the federation. They don't even have a form of currency, they talk about getting rid of it to 'better themselves' or some shit like that." Darrius said giving air quotes which earned him a snicker from his companion, "Personally I can't help but feel like a calf getting fatted up for slaughter with how generous they are with their technology."

"Well I'm not worried about it, if you're worried then I know you're going to do something about it." Cain said leaning back on his couch, "Once you can't... well let's hope that never happens."

"Indeed." He said standing up and heading to the door, "And try to focus on your work, knowing the lay of the land is going to be the most important thing we can do right now."

"Yessir!" Cain replied giving a mocking salute.

Stepping out of his room and waiting for the door to seal behind him he finally removed the cloth from his mouth. Taking in a few deep breaths of recirculated air he immediately felt his mind shaking off the effects of his companion's hedonism. Once his head cleared fully he looked over at the red robed figure standing off to the side of the door, waiting for his acknowledgement.

"Thaddius, good. What do you have to report?" He asked as he began walking down the corridor.

"These Federation are trying my patience. I did not sign on with you and your ship to have just anyone enter my engine room and start building things." The Tech Priest said following next to the Rogue Trader.

"Is there a legitimate complaint here Thaddius?" He asked looking over at the priest.

"They move about the engine room as if they had been anointed by the omnissiah itself. They refuse to follow any of the ancient rituals regarding the machines. Then they demand to know how the machine spirit operates. Their entire culture is without soul or faith regarding their machines." He said.

"This is not a first for you Thaddius, we've dealt with other aliens that act in similar manners." Darrius replied.

"BUT NONE OF THEM HAVE HAD THE RIGHT TO WORK IN MY ENGINE ROOM!" The Tech Priest replied his voice spiking and popping as his audio machines strained to keep up with the high volume.

"Calm yourself. I know this is trying but without them we have no way of getting anywhere in this new galaxy. Unless you have a means to allow us to travel to other systems save your complaints. We need them... for now." Darrius said looking over at the enraged Priest, "What can you tell me about their technology and what they plan to put into our ships guts."

Collecting himself Thaddius pulled out a datapad from his robes and handed it to Darrius, "It appears my first assumption was correct. Their drive is similar to that of the Necrons. Although less powerful it works by reducing the mass of the ship and then propelling it forwards at remarkable speeds. They intend to put one of their 'warp' drives into our ship to allow it similar capabilities but as of yet are unsure how to proceed due to the sheer size of our ship. They've requested permission to allow more specialized people to come aboard to help with the project." He said.

Darrius let out a loud sigh at the request, "Even more strangers aboard my ship. Tell me Thaddius have you learned enough about their technology from what we managed to syphon off of their computers with that plant?" He asked.

"It is not an easy task. They lack the rigid discipline that us tech priests have. Thusly their devices, reports, and various other actions almost seem anarchistic in nature." He said.

"I'm not asking HOW they go about doing things, I'm asking how they do those things and if you can understand the workings of the machines." He said correcting the Tech Priest.

There was a pause from Thaddius for several moments while the Rogue Trader waited for his reply, "... Not yet." He said fighting back his pride to reply honestly with his captain.

"Then we have no choice in the matter..." Darrius replied handing back the datapad, "Approve of their request."

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

Picard sat at his personal desk looking over the report sent to him just moments ago. He was thankful that for once the personnel request he had just finished reading didn't demand his crew member. It was a polite request from an engineer working on what had been dubbed the 'enterprise project'. The name irked him somewhat as did the report he had read a few weeks back about the ship that had appeared out of nowhere as if by magic.

Most of the personnel requests from Starfleet often lacked the basic courtesy of giving them time to get to the place. This one stood out in his mind simply due to its nature as a request rather than a demand. He had to assume it was from an engineer rather than someone higher up on the chain of command.

The ship in question had also caught his attention. His ship's name carried a long history of service and was rightly well known in both the Alpha and Beta quadrant. Then this ship appeared and it carried the same name as his own. He couldn't help but wonder if it had it's own history back from wherever it came.

He was brought out of his thoughts at the sound of the door chime, "Come" He said putting down the datapad and looking up as Geordi Laforge stepped in, "Mr. Laforge, you've gotten a copy of the request I presume?"

"Yes sir, I have to say it's an interesting case." Geordi said.

"Indeed. It's ultimately up to you if you want to assist in the project since this is a request rather than an order." Picard said.

"Well it's a chance to work on something that defies conventional logic. Still using things like kinetic weapons and lasers, but from what I read of the Farragut's report it's shields are some sort of dimensional barrier which is so far removed from anything we have." Geordi said, "I'd like to join the project."

"Well permission granted, we'll be stopping by space station Celon Two by the end of tomorrow once there you can depart for this odd ship. Also don't worry about us needing any members of the engineering team. The peace talks on Trazine aren't going to be finished anytime soon and I don't expect us to need our full compliment of engineers." Picard said.

"Thank you sir, I'll put together a team right away. Thank you sir, I can't wait to get inside that ship and see how it works." Geordi replied heading to the door.

As he left Picard looked back down at the datapad with the image of the ship, "Hmm I'm not sure I approve of it's name." He said to himself in the empty room.

Rogue Trader Vessel Enterprise

"Refer to the great machine spirits as 'primitive' one more time and I will throw you out of the nearest airlock." Thaddius said, his machine appendages shifting in anger, as he loomed over Geordi.

"You don't have the authority to do that Thaddius. Furthermore you've had to deal with them referring to the machines as 'primitive' for the last two weeks you can deal with these new arrivals doing the same." Lionus said grabbing the tech priest by his shoulder and pulling him back.

"Listen, I'm sorry if I offended you..." Geordi began.

"Your constant derision of the great machine spirits will not be tolerated." Thaddius said cutting off the engineer, "Tell your crew the same thing. The patience of the Adeptus Mechanicus has been worn far too thin of late."

"You throwing out these people will also not be tolerated Thaddius. You know we need them far more than they need us." Lionus said, "Go watch over your new adepts. I'm sure they will be far more receiving of your particular brand of venom then these starfleet people."

Lionus watched as the Tech Priest moved to say something. Deciding against it he silently turned and walked away from the two. Geordi moved next to the imperial commander and tried to read his face before apologizing.

"I'm sorry if I... insulted the machines." Geordi began tentatively before looking up at the massive gun installation, "It's just... this technology is mind-boggling. You're using what amounts to artillery in space. I mean I just have a hard time wrapping my head around how this could be useful in combat. Each shell, no matter how much explosive power is behind it, can only go so fast. How can you even hit anything with them?"

Geordi looked up at the massive artillery platform that occupied the majority of the room they were in. The gun was held aloft by a series of pistons and gears each one dwarfing the humans that worked around it. Hanging from the ceiling it was currently locked in place at the mouth of the canons firing port. Geordi surmised that when the gun was fired it used the recoil to launch itself backwards into a wall mounted catcher behind it and from there was reloaded, by hand he later found out, before being moved back to a firing position.

"When you have ships that measure in size as ours its much easier to hit something." Lionus said, "And while we do have energy weapons they can only do so much. The glory of the macro cannons is that their variable payload allows for a much broader operational field then the simple lasers. That and it's far easier to hit something like a planet than your surprisingly tiny ships. The Ferragut received a broadside of some of the more unique shells within our vessel. The battery fired was meant to detonate upon reaching the target rather than attempting to hit it. As I'm sure you saw this leaves the ship reeling and unable to respond with their own weapons. Against another ship of our size they penetrate the hull and explode causing massive internal damage."

"But you don't really need that much firepower do you?" Geordi said looking up at the massive cannon, "I mean one of these guns is overkill against anything we've seen."

"As I stated before your ships are relatively tiny compared to ours. Where we are from war is a common occurrence. It is not unusual to see dozens, if not hundreds, of ships the same size as ours. I once heard stories of a ship that dwarfed this one by a scale not unlike the size difference between your vessels and our own." Lionus said.

"It's kind of hard to wrap my head around something that big... I can only imagine the power requirements for such a vessel." Geordi replied, "In fact I have to admit I'm surprised you get so much energy from a simple plasma engine."

"While I am no Tech Priest I'm pretty sure the plasma engine is able to power this ship by virtue of being bigger then the vessel you arrived on." Lionus said, "Come let us collect Thaddius before he choses to vent his anger on one of your fellow crewmembers and head down to the reactor core so you can see what we can do to implement this warp drive of yours."

Engine Room

Barclay disliked crowds, people, and general interaction with anyone. He didn't dislike people in question. He simply realized a long time ago his own inept attempt to socialize were always doomed to failure. His own shyness combined with a lack of confidence always undermined anything thing he did.

He was surprised when Geordi asked him to come along to work on the enterprise project. He was even more surprised when he found himself enjoying the time spent on the imperial vessel. The rooms were a definite downgrade from Federation standards and working on older technology was taxing at first. He found out, however, that a vessel of this magnitude meant fewer people to interact with.

The people he did have to socialize with didn't even bother him that much. His nervousness and caution when doing anything were apparently considered valuable traits to the tech priests onboard. Their rigid view of people and machines also meant he had an easier time dealing with them than regular people. Normal people had hundreds of things that bothered, annoyed, pleased and any number of things that made dealing with them difficult. The tech priests had no where near as many ticks and the ones they did have only took a day for Barclay to figure out.

"Sir Barclay, are you sure about connecting the machines at these junctures? The spirit is willing I can tell but I worry about the body being unable to handle the stress of your federation warp core." The tech priest working with him asked.

He currently stood atop a power cable easily bigger than anything Barclay had ever seen. The fact that the tech priest could stand on top of it was proof of that. He watched as the priest held together a bundle of hastily made wires into one of the largest power line the federation lieutenant had ever worked on. The mechanical arms of the priest held up the bundle above his head, holding it steady before an equal sized plug attached to the nearby wall.

When the Imperial warp reactor had vanished it had taken a large number of connecting cables and power lines with it. This meant while the ship had lost a key component it also had a glut of space for the federation engineers to work with in getting the warp reactor online. The biggest issue the engineers were facing was how to form a warp bubble around the entire ship allowing it to travel at faster than light speed.

"I-I scanned the cables twice, if... if there is something wrong it won't be because of the equipment." Barclay replied to the tech priest.

"Then let us not waste time preparing for the unpreparable." The priest replied shifting his weight and pushing forward the macgyvered cables into the power slot, "I will assign an adept to monitor our work in this area once the core begins it's holy chant of power."

With a grace that belied the robes and machine parts of the man, the tech priest slipped down from the other cables. He moved through them with the ease of someone who had memorized the layout of the Enterprise down to the last weld. Landing on the floor he accompanied Barclay as they headed to the next problem area.

"It's really an impressive ship. I'm not used to working with something so huge and... umm..." Barclay began before his voice trailed off nervously.

"So huge and?" The priest prompted.

"Well it's difficult to say, I mean I'm not a superstitious person and well..." Barclay stopped and looked up at the metal of the hallway, "Well it feels like the ship is very well behaved. If that makes any sense at all."

"The green lights of the tech priest's eyes studied the man before him for a few moments, "Indeed the Enterprise is very well mannered. You are not unusual for thinking that. This ship, although not always named Enterprise, has served the Aestaban family for generations. A warship of the finest quality it was only recently that we diverged from our military heritage and became independent traders. The Enterprise has a long and venerated history, it's machine spirit is old and wise. Many problems have been averted due to the warnings the ship would give. Creaking bulkheads, mechanical whines, and even shifts in the gravity are all subtle ways the machine speaks to us."

"That sounds like some of Picard's... the... the captain of our Enterprise, old academy days stories. About how he could hear misalignments and problems with just his ears." Barclay said.

"Indeed he must be very close to your ship to read it's spirit so well." The priest replied.

"You talk as if it's alive." Barclay said as they walked through the corridors.

The tech Priest reached out a metallic hand and let it slide across the walls of the corridor, "Machines like the Enterprise, The noble Titans, and even the humble Leman Russ are not simply dead metal. They have a spirit. An inner fire if you will. The desire to fulfill their purpose and accomplish their goals just like humans. One tale I recall is the story of a space marine land raider who lost all it's crew in battle carrying on it's duty long after it's masters have died."

"It almost sounds like the machine's programming just took over?" Barclay said.

"In a manner of speaking yes... but programming can only do so much. Many machines and the programs that run them often fail. The conditions they find themselves in are too chaotic or confusing to properly work. Those with a strong and skilled spirit move past those trials, acting beyond what is expected and what is predicted." The Priest replied.

A voice from behind them drew both of their attention to the hallway they had just passed, "You could simply write it off as superstition, or spiritual belief. The end result for me, however, is that this ship has served my family well and I hope that it continues to do so even in this strange place." Darrius said walking up to the two and following next to them as they moved down the corridor, "So how goes the installation?"

"W- Well I think Geordi would be a better person to ask then me." Barclay said nervously, his awkwardness coming back to the forefront, "But our part is done. We're still trying to puzzle through the problem of getting a warp field around the ship. Geordi was thinking we could use some of your shield generators to act as an impromptu relay point for the warp bubble but it's proving difficult since the machines weren't designed to do anything remotely similar. He has hopes that with an inverse tachyon emitter working with-" Barclay said getting into his technical description before being interrupted by hand held up by Darrius.

"So... limited... progress then?" Darrius asked.

"Y-yes... limited progress." Barclay said, "I mean we have all the tools it's just... I feel like Geordi would be able to explain this better."

"Possibly, actually I already talked to him but he's a bit out of my depth for explanation." Darrius said, "His explanation had the rare talent of nearly putting me to sleep. At one point I felt like he was just pulling words out of his ass."

That response elicited a snicker from Barclay which he tried to cover up as a cough, "Well... most starfleet engineers and scientist do that. We need such a large... vocabulary, to deal with the numerous effects that happen with our technology." He said.

"Which is why I am here talking to you rather than Geordi. The ability to break problems down into simpler terms is turning out to be a gift from the God Emperor. Or so the tech priests say." Darrius said.

"Ah- They've been talking about me?" Barclay said his nervousness returning in a flash.

"Oh yes. they've been practically singing your praise, which is a unique sight considering many of them have no natural lungs for singing." Darrius said, "You're one of the few engineers that can both articulate problems to them successfully and can work with them to fix those problems. That, in and of itself, is a valuable trait but you have also been far less condescending to my tech priests then the other engineers which has earned you a bit of a positive reputation."

"AND I REFUSE TO ALLOW SUCH AN INVASIVE PROCEDURE TO BE PERFORMED TO THE GLORIOUS MACHINE SPIRIT!" A voice shouted out interrupting the conversation.

"I cannot, in good conscience, leave here with all of you using such dangerous outdated technology." Another voice said.

"Like I said, articulation is important." Darrius said as the three of them walked into the main engineering core.

The core chamber was larger than almost all the other rooms within the ship. Its roof hundreds of feet up the room formed a semicircle shape that traversed the length of the ship for almost a half a kilometer. It required such size to accommodate the large materials used to power the ship's main plasma engine and secondary support engines.

Dominating the center of the chamber was the plasma core. A single large sphere that barely fit within the large chamber it's sides were lined with a series of pipes that branched outwards and into the walls, floor, and ceiling. The center front and back of the sphere contained a glass window that was used as an entry point for the raw materials used to power the core. It also served to help illuminate the chamber with the glow of the core lighting up a good section of the room.

Along the walls dozens of other smaller cores sat in an idling state. Their power not need but set to charge up and provide additional energy for shields, guns, or other facilities if needed. Both sides of the large room contained these backup plasma cores.

The source of the shouting was a cluster of people, neatly divided into two groups, with Thaddius on one side with his fellow tech priests and Geordi on the other with the starfleet corps of engineers. Thaddius was clearly yelling and Darrius could tell he was mad. His eyes no longer colored green but were now an angry red glow. The spare mechanical arms behind him were trembling and likely to spring out due to his current ire.

He was impressed by Geordi who was not only standing up to the tech priest, who was at least a foot taller than the man, but defending his position, "You can scream all you want but these power cores are not only dangerous but completely unnecessary now that we're installing the warp core."

Thaddius barely allowed him time to finish before countering, "Dangerous? Dangerous! Do you presume me a fool? That I would not look into the very technology that you so callously attach to the machine? You speak of something you know nothing about! I have seen the reports of your so called 'superior' technology." Thaddius said pulling out one of the many data pads they had gotten from starfleet, "This warp drive of yours is the most temperamental machine spirit I have ever seen! Your own ship's history proves that." He finished tossing the datapad at Geordi like a glove in a duel.

Instead of backing down Geordi caught the pad and stared right back at Thaddius. Darrius assumed his eyes were narrowed if he could have seen them. The Federation engineer let Thaddius' accusation hang in the air for several moments.

"Your reactors are ticking time bombs." He said slowly and steadily, "One unlucky shot and the entire engine room will go up like a matchbox. If even one of them gets damaged the radiation it could leak will kill most normal humans in less than and hour. When your sub reactors go online the resulting energy surge has an almost fifty percent chance to kill people on your ship when a circuit overloads. You tell me my warp reactor has a history? Your's is a time bomb that won't even allow for a history!"

"This 'warp reactor' of yours has a near constant track record of completely destroying your ship." Thaddius replied, "It's true our plasma drives are volatile but to hit them they have to shoot through our shields, past our armor, though our hull and hope to get lucky enough to hit the core. Your reactor goes critical when an enemy ship so much as gives it a dirty look. There are reports in here that state when the reactor started to malfunction it caused the environmental systems to go haywire on the other side of your ship. That doesn't even begin to account for the hundreds, if not thousands, of times your reactor choses to insult every man and woman around it by refusing to work when something bizarre barely glances across your ship." He turned and walked though the gathered crowd to the nearest sub reactor and stood in front of it, "Activate sub reactor four now!"

"Thaddius what are you planning?" Darrius asked mildly curious.

The reactor behind the tech priest glowed as it came to life, "Giving a practical demonstration to our starfleet 'friend'!" He said, his arms shifting out from his back and grabbing on to one of the main power cables, "What he intends to do is interconnect their warp reactor to our entire system slaving our ship to it's temperamental whims."

"That will allow you to remove these dangerous reactors and give us more room to work out a solution to the warp problem." Geordi said.

"Dangerous? You say that word yet know nothing of our ship and it's spirits loyalty to the crew so LET ME SHOW YOU!" He said and with his mechanical limbs straining he ripped the power cable out from the plasma reactor.

The result was immediate as the core started flashing and pulsing from the sudden removal of one of the cables, "What are you doing!?" Geordi screamed rushing forwards and pulling out his tricorder, "Crew we need to shut this reactor down before the radiation gets out of hand and the entire thing blows!"

"You'll do nothing of the sort!" Thaddius said intercepting him.

"But if we don't-" His statement was cut off as the reactor let out another dangerous flash from inside and then promptly died with a hiss.

Thaddius stood in front of the Starfleet engineer, "The machine spirit is a noble soul and a valuable beast but it is still just THAT! Every person knows that a beast needs to be tethered and trained first before it can do the God Emperor's holy work and your 'warp drive' is far too wild a creature for me to let loose upon my ship!" He said standing before the dead reactor.

"What? What does that even mean?" Geordi asked

"It's my ship, point of fact Thaddius." Darrius said stepping forwards, "and he means that your warp drive doesn't have enough safety involved in it. Frankly I agree. Until such a time as I can be assured of it's stability and safety I will approve no such integration of your reactor into my ship."

"The warp reactor is safe!" Geordi protested.

"Perhaps in your eyes, but I did not survive though more than eighty years of war and trading to gamble on temperamental machine spirits. Not until I'm convinced it's safe and stable." Darrius said walking away.

"But your head engineer will never advocate it, this is just one of dozens of times he's blocked me from working on your ship." Geordi said.

"Then someone else will have to convince me... perhaps your friend Barclay will have a better time of it?" He said walking away leaving everyone to look at the now incredibly nervous engineer.


End file.
